More and more games are coming out these days with additional content that can be purchased after the fact. As such, many players who buy their games brand new sometimes feel jilted by the publishing companies by having to drop a decent amount of cash just to get a "complete" game, with some of those items merely being an unlock code to allow the owner the ability to access the added content on the disc.
This isn't entirely a problem, until you look at the fact that many of these games are coming out with an updated version of the game or a Game Of The Year edition that includes all the DLC, all for a reduced price.
Here are a few examples:
Borderlands - I paid $9.99 for the GOTY edition. Had I gotten the game itself, it would have cost me $15, then $10 each for the four pieces of DLC.
SoulCalibur IV - I got this for the XBox 360 and had Yoda included with it as a MS exclusive. Several months later, I had to pay $5 for an unlock code to get Vader, who until that time was an exclusive on the PS3.
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - Bought this brand new since I fucking loved the previous two games. Now they're releasing Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 just a bare six months after the original was released. New fighters are included, including the DLC from the first.
Street Fighter IV - Same as above, but I was at least smart enough to wait for Super Street Fighter IV to come out and got that version.
Honestly, I'm drawn on this. I understand that there is a price to pay for being an early adopter in purchasing a game and playing it at release, especially if this game is an online multiplayer game. But if one is patient, you can get the game and all the content for a cheaper price after the game has been out for a while.
We've all played games where the weapons, equipment, etc degraded in various ways. I have a very strong opinion of this since I've been playing games so long.
Ways of 'degrading' items: 1. Set number of uses. (Think secondary find-able weapons like the ninja stars in the original TMNT game or the entire Dead Rising game.) We'll call it "use it or lose it" from now on.
2. Durability that goes down with use over time. (S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl had a system like this, weapons would also jam on occasion in that game) Called "watch where you use it" from now on.
3. Durability that goes down with use over time, but infinitely repairable in some way or another. (Demon's Souls weapons would degrade at various rates, but spending souls would completely bring them back. Fallout 3 also used this model, as long as you had 'parts' from a similar weapon or piece of equipment) Affectionately called "repair addict" from now on.
4. Durability that goes down with use over time, but repairing has a limit. (Dark Age of Camelot model, where you could repair more times based on original item quality. quality and durability on items were intertwined.) Referenced as "finally broke at the worst possible time".
Now, I feel each has a place in the gaming world, but my major concerns arise when the developers implement them poorly.
1.) Use It Or Lose It: Simple, straight-forward, no surprises with this one. You know up front how many uses you're going to have so you can plan accordingly. The poor implementation of this comes into play when the number of uses aren't to your effective liking or they give you a large number, but near the end of a level for example. Sure I like having the 40 bolas right before I enter the lava boss in Star Tropics world 3, wait a minute, he's immune to my weapons and I have to defeat him with a jumping//timing puzzle? Fail.
2.) Watch Where You Use It: This one is very over-used in a lot of games, and as a player it always takes some getting used to. You find the Uber weapon, you're 3/4 the way through the level and you want to make sure you have enough of it for the battle at the end so you're still ratcheting through the sub-par ones to save up. Well, one of two things happen in most cases. A) You used it too much and left you hanging on the boss by having it break, or B) you barely used it to save it up, and you finish the level with most of it left leaving you to wonder how much easier that level would have been had you used it a bit more. Fun right?
3) Repair Addict: This one is very common, but problematic in it's implementation because developers seem to feel that if they give you a weapon that you can use forever it's either going to be getting repaired every 5 minutes, or it's going to cost you an arm and a leg in money or items to do so. Effectively making you the sole supporting 'godfather of the local blacksmiths kid's private schooling.
4) Finally Broke At The Worst Possible Time: I include this one for all the MMO players out there who've ever spent hours (years) finding that last piece of gear for your 'epic template'. It always seems to have that one little drawback of having a durability, and since it's a OTD (one time drop) it makes it all the more pleasant to think about. You've got your wicked weapon, you're a raid machine, you are primary DPS on the one boss you haven't killed yet, the monster is half-way dead, and your weapon breaks, effectively neutering you from the fight. Best part is, you can't repair or replace it meaning you're now the lucky little devil that gets to re-farm a whole new wardrobe to keep your stats up. Have fun with that.
In conclusion I prefer games that keep it simple. Realism with weapon degradation is a stretch on every level except on the Use it or lose it level and then only with some weapons like throwing stars, etc. I prefer developers to leave weapon degradation out of games unless they make it something that's done in passing or every so often, rather than consuming the thoughts of players.
Disagree? Have a comment or addition to my list? Please let me know!
I'm thinking of creating a pencil and paper game. Something that can be played around a physical table, with real live friends! Also something that can be played online, with real e-friends!
I know, I'm 15-30 years behind the curve. I know, no-one plays pencil and paper games anymore. Listen friends, that's beside the point and I resent you for your condescending thoughts.
Oh, and I need your help.
So I have a few ideas for the premise of the game, but honestly, on the good ones, the premise is not what matters. The rules matter, the repeat-ability matters, the structure and core matters. This is the part I'm working heavily on right now.
The idea is to come up with a semi-simple, yet expandable set of core design directions that allow the game to be manipulated, used and endeared by the users, but also be solid enough that the users will use the core structure when they make their campaigns.
The game Lore, premise, etc can all be written afterwards, but the general style of the game and the structure by which the game plays needs to be straightforward and adaptable to nearly every conceivable scenario.
I've got a start to it, but it needs fleshing out. Is anyone on this board willing to help out (casually of course, i'm not mental about this)? I'm looking to put together a plan of action and a basic conceptual design and get feedback from some people, in regards to areas that the rule-set will be broken, etc. What I don't want is the standard disclaimer of "when in doubt, the GM has the authority", etc. There has to be a way to write in a style that can be followed when in doubt.
I don't want to be mis-interpreted here, I want the players and GM's calling the shots, but I want them to have a formula that works for them to follow, rather than having to ad-lib a lot.
E3 is fast approaching and I wanted to post a little something about it to get a discussion (hopefully) started about it. Many people who are avid gamers don't even follow this event at all, I find myself dryhumping the news sites and even watching the live presentations if I can. I really can't even explain why I do this to be perfectly honest. I've always just been really excited about E3, and just find myself trying to get the information first.
Speculations:
I think that Microsoft will announce a new IP. I think they are also going to announce something HALO (almost a given) I think they may also be adding on, or improving their Kinect. I even have this thought they may add on something that attaches to your body to help the Kinect grow it's usable possibilities for game applications.
I think SONY will also launch a new IP. I also feel SONY will come out with a single control scheme for their Move rather than having the navigator as a separate entity, they'll combine the two somehow.
I think Nintendo will announce Wii 2. I also think they will demo it on the show floors this year.
Demands:
I demand Microsoft give me a reason to repurchase a 360. I liked Gears of War 1, but once Halo3 came out, that game died and I just couldn't get into the Halo thing.
I demand Sony to release more information on Twisted Metal, a release date would be acceptable. I WANT TWISTED METAL. Right this instant. Twisted Metal.
I demand Nintendo compete in the HD market with their next system. Clearly HD isn't going away, and I think they could capture more of the "standard" consumer by making the move into HD.
Twisted Metal.
I'm excited as always to see what they will bring, but I also think this year, even though my speculations are high, will be low key.
the privilege of playing a game that I wouldn't have otherwise played.
As many of you know, Sony was attacked by an "external intrusion" in mid April. There have been countless articles ranging from "Sony is the devil" to "Sony is the victim". There's little to nothing going on in the gaming world that compares to the media foodstuffs that any journalist could gain from this event, so it's no shock that every day there is something new and not fresh coming out of said journalists.
Shortly after Sony took PSN offline, speculation began. It was anyone's guess as to what happened, as members began only receiving an error message upon trying to sign into PSN. It took Sony a few days to change the message people were getting to "Playstation Network is currently undergoing maintenance." Which really only led to more speculation. If you've been following the PSN blog : http://blog.us.playstation.com/ you already know all of this information, and if you haven't then you can revisit it step by step for yourself as I don't see the point in repeating the same crap that's already been done.
Sony held a press conference today May 1 2011 and laid out some of their "make good" information for the network being down so long. Of course you'll never please everyone, but they had to start somewhere. What they are offering all PSN users to make up for the downtime, in my opinion, is overboard.
Enough of what everyone else has been doing during this downtime, I'm posting today to tell you what I did with my "break from online gaming".
Wednesday evening, I decide I'm going to log onto DCUO and run a few missions or possibly do some pvp, haven't decided yet. I boot up the ps3 and get an error. Hmm, wtf..... I try again, and again and again. By this time I'm wondering if it's my connection, so I fire up the other PS3 and get the same error. I check my internet connection, and it's fine, but errors out on the PSN. I check the official blog, no word here. Proceed to do a bit of head scratching, and then dig further into it. Seems everyone has this problem, yay it's not just me! I tell myself, F it, I didn't really want to play anyway, and boot up Netflix. Netflix wants to sign into PSN, which is down. Now I'm starting to get frustrated, since I can't play online, now I can't watch some instant media. I try to sign in, it errors out, I hit the cancel button, Netflix keeps trying, tries to sign in again, errors, I cancel again and BOOM, Netflix works fine. Yay!
Thursday, I boot up my system and receive the same error. Darn. I check the blog to see if something official has come out about it. Nothing. I head out onto the open ocean of journalistic freeform that is the internet, and find that there are about 10 million assumptions and speculations about what is going on. None of this crap is useful. I decide that I'll check back later. That evening I tried again and nothing, but the blog had a post that said they were aware and no other news. Great, this doesn't sound good at all.
Skip ahead to the April 22 post. External intrusion. That's not good. Like anyone else, that had a credit card linked to their system, I called my CC company immediately and cancelled the card, better safe than sorry.
So, now I know that it's down for the long haul and there's not a whole lot that anyone can do about it. I decide that this is a good time for me to pop in a game my brother let me borrow I don't even know how long ago. I never got around to playing this title as it's a single player game (I'm not overly fond of single player games anymore with online gaming taking the majority of my time up) he heavily recommended to me. My god am I glad PSN went down. I would have never gotten around to this game, and I know that now. It took the PSN being taken offline for me to enjoy this title, a sad fact I now know.
Friday. I pop Heavy Rain into my disc drive and I'm ready to play this game. I avoided everything I possibly could about this game because I knew in my mind that I wanted to play it, but I heard that any information about it could spoil the experience. So, I took extra steps to avoid any information. Man am I glad I did. If you haven't played it, you need to, even if you don't think you're a fan of "this type of game" you need to play it. I'm not going to review it, or even type anymore about it because this is a game that you need to play with a clean slate to give it justice.
Ultimately, I have to thank the hackers for the downtime, I would have never gotten to experience this game had they not forced Sony to take PSN down. So, thank you, I can say without a doubt I am in the minority of PSN members that would say thank you to them, but, afterall, they are the reason for this post and the satisfaction I got out of playing Heavy Rain.
99/100 because no game is perfect, but Heavy Rain camped out, shared a beer with Jesus Christ and got pointers on how to make a game.
I would like to introduce myself to the masses that follow this blog :) I am a simple man, enthralled by games and have been ever since I can remember. It was mostly PC games (Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry if your wondering) that sparked my interest "back in the day" and blossomed into what I am today. I am a father now doing fatherly things with a wife (god bless her tolerance) and a son that is growing into a fine gamer (well maybe someday). Games have defined eras for me, defined periods of time in the past that I know I will remember long after Alzheimers has taken over. I mainly play PS3 now (curse you trophies) mainly due to the fact that I am lazy and just want to sit in front of the TV on the couch but have played (and still own) most of the consoles that I have played over the years and have the unique opportunity to share those oldies but goodies with my family and make it a family activity that we can all participate. I hear that families that play together, stay together. I haven't had much time because I am currently in the middle of trying to better myself by advancing my education and finding a job that will pay for my habits and the future habits of my family with what I am certain will include smartphones (gotta keep track of everyone) and trips to god knows where (as long as there is mobile gaming). I was planning on getting on here and contributing a while back, but life happens and now here I am. I have a lot to say for this particular blog which will consist mostly of "old school" and my viewpoint as things-are-a-changin. I also look forward to the content posted by everybody which spurred me to get on here in the first place as I was reading through some of the older posts. Keep up the good work and as Beavis used to say, "Heh heh heh, kick his ass!"
When Final Fantasy XII came out, I got it at release. I happily played it for a month or so, then Real Life intervened in some way and I stopped playing it. Other games came out and I started playing them, leaving my progress in FFXII at a standstill. Last month, I decided to fire it up again, just to giggles, and when I'd loaded my save, I noticed that I was at a loss for what I needed to do.
I admit it; I've done this on a number of games. Depending on the game, I may be able to pick it up right where I'd left off, but more and more often, I'm finding that I just can't continue on because I've lost my recollection of what it is that I was to be doing.
Let's discuss this. Have you run into a situation like this? What did you do? At what point do you decide it's better to start fresh than it is to try to continue on in hopes you'll remember exactly what you need to do?
For the last couple of months, I have been playing DC Universe Online rather religiously. Talking a few hours a day of my life dedicated to developing my character and collecting whatever in the hell you collect in a standard MMO. I've been enjoying the hell out of it, it's been fun and I feel my "main" is developed and ready for whatever the devs would throw at it.
It's been a great few months, but now I wonder if it's that time. You know the time to just call it quits on the game. The time where you have to decide if you're getting your money back out of it, or if you're just done experiencing what the game has to offer.
I was thinking about whether I would continue to pay the subscription or just call it quits. It's always been hard for me to call it quits on a game. I seem to always have this nagging voice in my head as it was coming down to the time when I knew I was probably done with the game, but couldn't put it down. I find I have this problem with all MMOs. They have this content that sucks you in, and then you've invested enough time and energy into developing your skills/character/friends whatever that you feel compelled to stick with it just to get more return on your investment. DC is no different for me.
I admit, I'm addicted to the thrill of the hunt. I have a love/hate relationship with grinding though and it's 100% dependent on the investment versus the reward. It seems every game these days has something to grind for a reward. Now these rewards are almost completely meaningless, but there's something about the chime of the trophy // achievement I really enjoy. It could be the sense of accomplishment, it could be the 'permanence' of it, it could be that if necessary I could always brag about it or use it as flame bait in a conversation amongst friends. Mostly though, for me, it's simply my collecting tendency coming out in a virtual way.
I finally sat down with Viva Pinata, a game I'd been wanting to really play for years. Now as someone who has collecting tendencies, this game is as addicting as 'Heisenburg's blue meth' from Breaking Bad. I started playing it with the intent to get every pinata possible to 'reside' in my garden. This is no easy task however, and soon it was an all out grindfest. This is the love part of the relatiohship. A game that is enjoyable to grind in is something that no amount of reasoning can explain and no amount of money (when applicable) can satisfy. If you are having fun grinding, good luck to anyone trying to intervene. I ended up the other day looking up the last 3 achievements and putting that sucker to rest with 1000/1000. The right//wrong of looking up 'secret' things is a topic of another discussion. Rest assured though, I don't feel guilty about doing it on a game, ever.
Batman Arkham Asylum is another prime example of a game I recently finished and went back to grind a bit. I spent a good part of a day finishing the Riddler's challenges after finishing the story. Another example of an addicting use of grindage to satisfy the collector in me. A good game with a well executed system of adding to the playtime without much if any content addition.
It's a hard thing to do, and most developers don't get it right.
There is a definite point in any reward hunt where a person must draw the line though. The point of no return. Once you cross over and are closer to the end than the beginning it's very hard (for me) to step away. The game could feel very much like a chore and I'll still sit there thumbs bleeding to get some silly reward rather than just set it down and move on.
The perfect example of this is the Perfect Bladestone Weapon in Demon's Souls. For those that aren't aware of the pure luck aspect of that, here's a hint. The necessary ingredient (pure bladestone) can only be acquired from 2 monsters in the game. These aren't exactly hard to get to monsters, but they are tricky to defeat and your odds of getting the drop is exactly 0.5%. So you have a 1:200 chance of getting the required item for this particular bronze trophy in Demon's Souls. I personally spent about 32 hours loading the level, sprinting to the closest monster that drops it, killing it, suiciding out, and rinse repeating the above. I don't know how many kills exactly that is, but I never got the required drop. I was lucky enough to have a friend who got it and gave me the required weapon long enough to pop the trophy.
This is the hate part of the relationship, but as a collector it was just something I had to do. I would probably still be grinding that sucker if not for the help, and that's very sad.
I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was fun," I said. "You bet it was," said Nick. "Let's climb higher." "No," I said. "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't say it was an interesting story.” - Jack Handy
One would think that when you are writing an article about a game, or something game-related, you'd do a bit of research about the topic to make sure that you are presenting facts to support your opinions.
A few weeks ago, a local paper wrote an article about the lack of non-sexualized heroines in gaming today. While it was an interesting piece, and something I do agree with, there was one nitpicky item that I did not agree with. The author talked about the (at that time) soon-to-be-released Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and the looks of the female characters in the game. He said:
All the female characters are impossibly top-heavy and wearing outfits that would be a hella lot more functional and effective at a fetish Halloween party at the Inferno than an actual fisticuffs throwdown. Practically speaking, most of the costumes, especially Morrigan and her winged vampire getup, would shred and/or fall off with the first punch or sweep kick.
While he is right and that most of the costumes are skimpy at best, I do take offense at the author's inability to do research on the character he is referencing. Yes, Morrigan is scantily clad and her outfit doesn't leave much to the imagination, but that's because she is a succubus. Not some floozy in a "winged vampire getup", but a demon that will devour your soul while riding your johnson. It also makes me wonder if he realized that she was from the Darkstalkers series of games and even bothered to look into that. If he had, then I'm pretty sure there would have been a comment about Felicia and how the catgirl is even less clothed than Morrigan.
Now, because of this lack of knowledge and misinformation, I look at the author's reviews a lot more critically. I really don't take what he has to say with much credibility, and I wonder if he even puts much effort into some of these games he's reviewing and/or discussing.
So, the last few weeks, I've been dryhumping DC Universe Online like it's going out of style. I've leveled 3 30's from two of the mentors (would have done all 3 mentors, but there was a minor communication error between a friend of mine and I).
Anyway, I've been playing the crap out of this game, and I'm ready to slap some informational opinions down on the table. This game has all of the early release bugs that most of us have come to expect from a MMO at launch. Bugs galore, glitches that are problematic, crashes, server downtime, and many other things. However, I've accepted that as a launch MMO there would be problems, as I personally have never played nor heard of a MMO at launch that worked flawlessly.
Things I like:
1. Leveling is not a grind, it's frikken easy as hell, and especially easy if you have a partner or two. The quests all chain off of one another so it's one quest to another, in a fairly linear way, but not so much that you feel as though there's only one path to take. The mob grind is not there as the only reason to grind mobs is either for styles (collectible looks for your char) or maybe money? I have no idea why you'd grind mobs to be honest.
2. Built in voice chat. There have been a few problems with it thus far, but for the most part it works fine. It's nice to be able to group up with people and just chat while not doing anything or while leveling. Voice is also obviously nice for coordination in the higher level content.
3. Addictive. It's addictive, but maybe that's just my personality and I like being addicted to games damn it. Don't judge me.
4. I play tipped back in a recliner. For real, if you can't agree that playing a MMO from a relaxed state in a recliner, then you're retarded and I can no longer interact with you.
5. more to add possibly, but I'm sick of being positive.
Things I don't like:
1. Gear. My biggest problem with this game by far. I have no idea why recent MMO's have went to this tiered gear system, but this one does it as well. The gear you have while you level is almost meh, but when you hit 30, all of the sudden gear matters for what you are trying to get done. To get the better gear (tier1) you have a few options, you can do quests called "dailys" which net you 2 marks of allegiance which ten of those are worth one mark of triumph, the currency that is used to buy the tier 1 gear. You can do duo's which net about 4 marks of triumph per duo (currently 4) which are easy IF YOU HAVE TWO SPECIFIC CLASSES otherwise don't try, just do dailys. The final option you have is to do hard alerts, which net 5-7 triumph, but require 4 people and they have to be THE RIGHT CLASSES. If you go into a hard alert with the wrong class setup (1 tank 1 dps 1 contoller 1 healer) then you are wasting your time and in game money on repairs. They have also chosen to limit how many of each mark you can earn per day, this in and of itself isn't really a problem as you'd have to invest more time than I play (read an unhealthy amount as I'm borderline at the moment) to get more than what they limit you to, but what the hell is the point of limiting someone's ability to earn? The marks aren't tradeable soooooo ????? I'm left scratching my noggin.
2. The UI. I'm playing the ps3 version so this may not be the case for the PC, but the UI is laggy as hell and it drives me crazy. I just memorized the cities (probably would have happened anyway if I continue playing) just so I would never have to check my map or access my journal so I could get the little arrow as to where to go. It is clunky, laggy, and locks up at times. The devs need to work on this.
3. The main story plays very little into the overall happenings of the world. The idea is Brainiac tricked both the heroes and villans into fighting and then after they killed one another off took over. Ok, fine beginning, but it plays very little into the overall world happenings. There is a series of quests at the beginning, and then another at the end that deals with that, but other than that the Brainiac forces are in the world, but they play no role in the game as far as I see. I guess this isn't a HUGE problem, but I guess I was expecting it to play a more major role in what was going on.
4. PVP. Yep it has it, but I don't understand the purpose of it. Maybe it's just my ignorance of the game, but it's really just a quick button mash fest to earn marks of victory. These are used to purchase PVP gear, yes the PVP gear is different than the PVE gear and you need different marks for both read above bitch about gear, the only saving grace here is that they don't limit the PVP marks like they do PVE marks. In my opinion the pvp is just tacked on and if you have a semi-competent group of players with semi-decent class make up for a team you win if you just simply stick together.
5. More to come I'm sure.
That's my initial quick and dirty of DC:O I'll probably retouch on this subject after awhile and revisit this discussion, until now you get a little bit of info on it anyway!
Question: If you had purchased a game that was hyped a bit and you bought into the hype (obviously since you purchased it!) and the game turned out to be complete crap with content that was just glued on (poorly) just so they could put it on the box... say multiplayer, which also turned out to be complete crap, would you try the second in the series if journalists that are "in the know" were claiming that the second was worth a shot even though the first was garbage?
That question smacked me in the face when I realized someone paid Reality Pump money.... REAL WORLD MONEY to publish Two Worlds II. I don't know about any of you, but I played Two Worlds, and.... I wish I hadn't. The only saving grace in that debacle is the fact I didn't pay money for it. When Two Worlds was still in development there was quite a lot of buzz going on around the web about it. Supposedly the "multiplayer version of Elder Scrolls IV" ( it did look quite similar graphically, and yes there was multiplayer, but more on that later) journalist were claiming this game was going to be the second coming and possibly what Elder Scrolls IV could have been.
Anyway, getting back to my point, I played this game that should have never been. Really the only thing this game has going for it, is it sets the bar as to where this generations bottom is. Graphics were a problem, sound was a problem, voice acting was just horrible, AI went from LOL to WTF, and I'm pretty sure they crammed so much bad into this game, the case smelled off. The multiplayer component of this game was "Horse Racing" yes. Horse Racing. Maybe I'm wrong here, but there should be a little more beef to the content than one mode that is pointless and short in order to be able to toss it on the box and trick the consumer into purchasing it.
Now that Two Worlds II is out, the "in the know" journalists (not sure if the same ones or different ones as I'm too lazy to research this!) are saying that the issues from the first have been addressed and this one is worth a pick up and play. Uh... I fear the hypetrain is coming and some folks are tied to the tracks. I just can't seem to get over the fact that the first was so bad, and I just can't see how the second could be much better. Sure games have improved from the first in the series to the second, that's a given. As time passes, new methods, ideas, technology, ect comes about and all of that can be used for improvement.
I don't think I'd have any issue with this game if it were named something else rather than the second. I have nothing against the dev, nor do I think they have never / will never / could never make a great title, I just don't know why they'd wish to associate this "superior title" with the unspeakable one. I guess my question is fairly simple, but I tend to shy away from a second if the first was straight out terribad, but do you?
In the first Final Fantasy game, you were able to go ahead and choose four characters for your team. A balanced team usually consisted of a fighter, a black belt, a black mage, or a white mage. This gave you a well rounded team with two melee based bruisers, your magic cannon, and a healer/undead killer. You could also sub out the black belt for a thief and get a character that while not the damage powerhouse, he could crit a lot better than any of the other characters. Then you had the red mage; he's pretty much the jack-of-all-trades but master of none.
It took me a while to finish the game, but once I did, I started thinking about other character combinations. Essentially, I was looking at the long run on these characters since later on in the game, they upgrade to more powerful classes. The fighter becomes the knight and has access to some lower level white magic spells. The thief becomes the ninja and can cast some black magic spells. Black belts become masters and are unarmored and unarmed brick shithouses that will bring down the pain. Red mages become red wizards and gain a few extra spells, but can't cast any of the super powerful ones. White mages become white wizards and get access to extremely powerful healing and holy spells. Black mages become black wizards and cast all sorts of complete and utter pwnage, like the best spell in the entire game: Nuke.
My younger self thought it'd be cool to make an all magic team. Two red mages, a white mage and a black mage. This lasted for a while, but I quickly got bored with it. A number of other character combinations were tried and planned, but they also went to the wayside. At this point, I started to grow weary of Final Fantasy, grew more interested in girls, and let the game collect dust.
A number of years passed, and nostalgia kicked in. One time while I was visiting my parents, I decided to break out the ol' NES. I played around with a few games, but finally settled for an evening of playing Final Fantasy. I was surprised that the game's battery was still good, and it had remembered my last group combination that I'd tried: two black mages and two white mages. They hadn't gotten very far.
It was at this point I started thinking to myself. "Self," I said, "you've obviously got a little something going on here with this current layout."
"Damned straight," I replied. "We've got the healing and the ass-kicking power there, but only later on in the game. Right now, we're too full of suck to get far. I don't think we could even kill Garland!"
"But what if we were to really get somewhere with that similar plan? Have a fighting chance early, then totally kick ass once you mature?"
I gasped at Self's teased idea. It was brilliant, and could work out rather well. Start a new party with two fighters and two black mages. The fighters do the majority of the fighting early on, while the black mages do support and fling spells from behind. There was only one problem, and that was the lack of healing. Potions were fine and all, but buying them along with tents, Phoenix down, and all the weapons, armor and spells meant this was going to be an expensive adventure for the team. Until we got everyone advanced to the adult state, it was going to be a long and painful grind just to get the necessary money. Once it was achieved, it would pay off and do so in a majorly ass-kicking way.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the time or patience to fulfill this plan. I stopped shortly after getting past Astos, mainly because I came close to destroying my controller in fits of rage as I kept dying over and over again.
Much like with Dragon Warrior, the challenge sits in its unfinished state, taunting me every once in a while as I think of it.
Definition: When card players let their emotions cloud their judgment, it's called going "on tilt." Often, when a player suffers a bad beat or a losing streak, they will go "on tilt."
I am a competitive card player. I have been playing the card game called Magic: The Gathering (magic or mtg for short) for about a year and a half. I only played casually for a few weeks before instantly becoming hooked and venturing into the world of competitive play at a local shop that hosts it.
I was your classic newbie, showing up with no experience and a limited knowledge of the game. I was in awe of the regular players decks and was amazed at the plays they made casually that I wouldn't have thought of in a million years. I quickly started forming friendships with the players at the shop and was helped out by the veterans to make my deck better and play tighter. I was having a complete blast.
I have your classic addictive personality features. When I like something, I go all in and attempt to learn everything I possibly can about whatever it is, and if its something I can utilize my own skills with, I also attempt to become the best I can possibly be at it. Magic was no exception to this rule.
I started reading various website articles and watching professional players play. Their ability to automatically know what to do in any given situation was incredible to me. I watched video after video, read article after article. A lot of the time I didn't even know what I was reading, but it was fun for me regardless. I got to see new and unique decks that simply never crossed my mind before, and using this information I quickly applied them to my own decks and made them better and better.
Down Goes Frasier!
Before I knew it I was sitting across from the best player in the shop in one of the regular Tuesday night tournaments, Charles. Charles was well known and feared by the other newbies in the shop, and for good reason. He was a ruthless player piloting a fearsome deck that made short work of all but the most powerful of decks. Charles also has your classic "sore loser" personality who cannot accept defeat without first spouting out a stream of excuses as to why it happened.
I was playing a deck of my own creation that I had been having some recent success with. It was a mono-white "weenie" deck that consisted of a ton of cheap, fast, weak creatures that attempted to win via sheer numbers. I had recently spent a couple dollars on the deck to upgrade it with a powerful spell called "Path to Exile" that removes any creature from the game for almost no investment. Little did I know how much that couple dollar investment would matter.
I sit down across from Charles and he offers me the standard "good luck!" line and we shuffle up. Some of my fellow newbies offer some highly usable advice "try not to lose too fast!" and I start to focus. The rest of the room becomes a dull hum in my ears as my eyes start darting around the playing field. The first game goes by in the expected blur, and I get crushed so fast hes already reaching for the results slip. But then something interesting happens in game 2, I won. He is just as confused as I am and he starts rambling off his usual excuses "I got screwed that game and you ripped so ridiculously."
Game 3 starts and i have an interesting hand. Its very high risk high reward. It has a mix of my usual cheap creatures plus 2 of my only expensive card in the entire deck. The card known as "Captain of the Watch" is staring at me in my hand. The card is an instant army maker, but it is very slow to play, and Charles's deck is very fast. It was at this point in time my mind started thinking not as a newbie, but as someone who's inner fire was starting to light a path to the next level.
As I evaluated keeping my hand my mind went back and replayed the last game. I could tell that his deck had a hard time dealing with swarms of creatures but could easily knock out my strongest creatures, and his creatures were most definitely bigger than mine.
So, I keep the hand. The game progresses and I start trying to clog up the board so I can cast my Captain of the Watch and try to take over. My deck was fast, but his was faster. I realized racing him was not an option. As the game progresses the board is eventually emptied as we end up wiping each others creatures out. On my turn I finally get to drop my Captain of the Watch and an inner beacon of hope starts to shine through in my thoughts. Am I really going to beat THE Charles? A turn goes by and I drop yet another Captain of the Watch, and look up expecting his temper tantrum to kick in, but he is completely unmoved. I am very curious as to what is going on in his mind. Is he bluffing or does he have something to somehow clear this up? I swing in for a huge amount of damage and pass the turn. On his turn he casually wipes the board with a sweeping spell and passes back.
My heart sunk. My glorious army was destroyed. My hand is empty. I am drawing blind and have no clue what will happen. He is sitting with precious few life points left and I don't know how to finish the job. I draw for my turn and draw dead. Land. I pass back the turn and he confidently slams down a creature called Baneslayer Angel. This card is the card of legends. Only the richest most competitive of players even have SEEN one, let alone own them. Due to its incredible power and extremely high card price, it was known to me as the "wallet-slayer." Charles has a look of satisfaction on his face as he now has essentially nothing to fear from me. His angel outclasses every creature in my deck, and will allow him to bring up his life total from the brink.
As I mentioned earlier in this article, I had recently invested a couple dollars into a powerful creature removing card. I didn't know how or when it would actually matter to a newbie playing a random deck like mine, but that time could not have been more perfect. The jumble of thoughts running through my head of how I would handle the legendary angel and if I should simply conceed clouded my mind as I prepared for the turn. My shoulders slump, my head goes in my hand, and I draw my card for the turn off the top of my deck. Looking back at me is a Path to Exile. At this point in the game everyone else in the room is done playing and eagerly watching my game commence. I confidently exclaim "Path on the Baneslayer" and hear discussion from the onlookers about the game state.
Charles at this point is very upset. "That is such a bullshit rip i cant believe that crap!" he yells as he throws his angel into his exiled zone. It is very normal for him to yell such things, but this is the first time I was in the opponents seat. It felt bad but the fact that I was still in the game utterly drowned out his harsh words. I pass back for the turn, and he throws down a useless card and passes back. The crowd of onlookers eagerly await my draw for the turn. I look around with a shit-eating grin and draw my card, hoping to find something to try and regain command with. I look at my freshly drawn card and realize it is yet another Captain of the Watch. I play my instant-army-maker and Charles screams some obscenities as he gathers up his cards angrily, knowing he has lost to the newbie. He fills out the results slip and leaves the area, unable to cope with the defeat.
I am beaming with joy as the other guys in the store congratulate me. David had defeated Goliath.
Someone at this point said "Wow Charles is tilting really hard." I had never heard this term before. "What is tilting?" I ask. I was never a poker player which is apparently where this word originated from, but I was told it is what happens when a player feels they got robbed in one way or another and were very upset about it.
As a new player I never even thought it was possible to get that upset. It was just a game after-all.... right?
The Sheep Becomes the Shark
Its been well over a year since that story took place. At this point in the story I have gone from timid newbie to veteran level status and am sitting as one of the "feared" players in the room. It is not uncommon to hear people say "ouch!" or "sucks to be you!" when the pairings are announced and I am paired up with one of the middle level players. My decks are powerful and full of expensive cards, and I am a tight player who makes next to zero mistakes. I punish mistakes and take advantage of any hole I can find. I am now what Charles was to me when I started playing. That mythical player with the incredible deck who wins far more than loses. I'm not the best player in the room but I'm up there. That title would still fall to Charles, ironically enough.
As my competitive playing evolved and I started evolving into the next level of magic, my experiences with the game started to broaden. I started playing at different venues and I bought my deck on Magic Online to test my mettle against the best of the best. And I was winning. A lot. I had built a powerful custom tuned deck designed to take down the popular decks of the time. I tested it extensively with a friend of mine who decided to run the same deck with me so we could both make it as powerful as possible. We both dominated the circuits and were crushing on a regular basis. At one point I was pitted against an actual pro who happened to be at the venue i was playing at and I crushed him as well. I was feeling really good about myself and thought I could actually play this game professionally.
Above: My magic career of wins and losses
It was at this point i discovered the world of 100+ player online tournaments known as "dailies." These cost $6 to enter and had enormous prize payout if you went at least 3-1. My immediate thought was how i could utterly dominate the online crowd and make a bundle of money from the generous prize payouts. I bought $30 worth of tournament entries and went to work.
I attend my first four online tournaments I end up 3-1 in all of them. Only in the 5th do i get my first 2-2 and no prizes to go with it. I was riding very high. I made a bundle off the prizes and had enough winnings to play a huge amount of more tournaments and clean up even more. My plan was working!
The Taste of Defeat
And then something foreign happened. Something I hadn't experienced in almost a year. I started losing. After my galiant streak of 3-1's, I ended up going 2-2 a whopping 15 tournaments in a row. My heart was broken. My spirit was sucked out of me. I was filled with a mixed bag of emotions including sadness, fear, and worry. And then something happened to me which had never happened before. I tilted. I was upset and there was no calm on the horizon. I was livid and didn't know what to do. I thought about quitting magic. I thought about going back to casual play. My friends gave me words of encouragement and recommended I just simply take a break. I was so confused I even submitted my plight to a popular online magic tv show on channelfireball.com (which they answered, at around 5 minutes 35 seconds into the show)
They made a good point on the show. Try not to let it effect you, take a break, take a step back and regroup. So I did just that. I took a break from the dailies and calmed down. And I slowly but surely stopped fuming and started enjoying the game again.
Second Place
My competitive playing continues to this day. I continue reading articles and watching videos on a daily basis. I'm not the potential pro player I originally thought I was, and grinding tournaments is no longer part of my daily life. But I still am a shark and I play to win. I have never missed a Tuesday night tournament at my local shop. Most of the faces have changed since the year and half its been since I started playing there, but some of them are weekly warriors just like me, showing up and having fun. We get new players nearly weekly and I try to be as helpful as I can be to anyone who asks for it, as at this point I am a voice of experience. Even some of the other vets ask me for help which is a great feeling.
The players in the shop have become stronger, their decks have become better, and I am now simply one of the good players there rather than that powerful "auto-loss" that i was once considered to be.
Recently I was going through the motions of another tournament. Like usual I was 2-0 going into the final round. This is extremely common for me and nothing special. I used to be a master prize grinder at my shop. Undefeated streaks were common and I was filled to the brim with prizes. It took a rather harsh loss in my last tournament to show me a brutal realization.
I was paired up with a kid I had played against endless amounts of times before. I have never lost to him before and I figured I was on my way to 3-0 land.
I have recently had a wicked long streak of 2-1's with a couple 3-0's peppered in. This is a stark contrast of my old streaks which were mostly 3-0's with a couple 2-1's peppered in.
The kid is a regular at the shop at this point. He has acquired a handful of decent cards and is running an unruly yet competent control deck. He has yet to achieve a 3-0 but is getting better.
I am going through the motions and realizing things are fruitless as his board has a card on it my deck literally cannot answer. We move on to game 2 and the same card lands on the table. But this time I could have easily prevented the card from hitting the table, but my sloppy overconfidence ended up causing my downfall.
I pen in a depressing 0 in the wins column next to my name and sign the results slip. I am livid with myself. How could I lose to a newbie with my skill and deck? I normally heartily congratulate someone for beating me and getting their first 3-0, but i said not a word to my opponent as I packed up my cards. I text my friend about the loss and explain that I am tilting pretty severely using a carefully chosen selection of curse words. He offers kind words and reminds me about his own recent bout with tilt and how a break might be in order.
I go home and talk with him at length about my thoughts. Maybe a break is the answer, we end up agreeing on.
The Love of the Game
That night as I tilted I blamed it on everything but myself. I cursed the card in his deck that I "didn't have an answer to." And figured I couldn't have done anything about it.
After thinking long and hard about what happened and what my options are, I noticed the game has become less of a game and more of a routine for me. This realization has scared me to death. My tight playing and mistake minimizing has become second nature and no longer something I actively strive for. Can you guess what this has lead to?
I have lost my edge. I've become predictable. I've lost the inner fire. I am no longer the end-boss. I am still excellent at the game, but no longer am I achieving the level of play that I truly desire to be at. Despite being off the tournament grind I still love the game and would never dream of abandoning it. But my fire is in need of kindling.
Taking a break from something I love is the last thing I should be doing. I need to come up with a new plan of attack. I need to relight the fire and strive to get to a new level. Playing the game is fun and I should be having fun. I need to get back on my competitive path and become that mythical player again. The one everybody fears and wants to be like.
To this day I mostly lose to the earlier rival in this story, Charles. We always have intense epic battles, but he beats me more than I beat him. I always wonder afterward what he has that I do not. I always pilot strong decks and I'm a strong player, but Charles has the fire. Charles's legendary temper tantrums are not because he thinks he is the best player in the world, but because he wants to be the best player in the world. He refuses to let his fire die.
I’ve been a dad for a few years now (nearly 13) and I’ve been a gamer for much longer. My kids know how much I like games and when a parent is into something the kids get into it also.
My daughter (12) has always been into games she can ‘get’ right away and do well at. Games she can pick up quickly and finish or games she can tootle around on with costumes, mini-games, or just time-wasting behavior (Nintendogs for example). She rarely re-visits games for a second time and is into the types of games that I wouldn’t even pick up to read the back cover in a store.
My son (7) likes games that he can be good at, make no mistake, but it seems the games he re-visits are the ones that he struggles with initially. He plays the same games over and over and within those games plays the same levels countless times. He is into games that are similar to ones I was into when I was a kid, and by and large games that I’m still into.
Now that you have a background on the kid’s differences in game behaviors, they share a common trait as well. They both believe that I am the supreme authority on all things relating to games. From ‘knowing’ how to beat things I’ve never played before to knowing every release and what type of game it is. I do happen to know more than my fair share about these things, but it’s obvious that I can’t keep track of every game out there.
It’s a situation that has more drawbacks than positives from a Dad’s perspective.
Of course I want to live up to my children’s expectations of me, because as a parent you are the mold that 'most' shapes their development into adult persons. There are times I’ll walk through the room when they are playing a game and they’ll hand me the controller to beat a specific level//area//boss//etc and I’ll whip it out like I’d done it a thousand times before and they get that starry eyed look and it makes me feel like a million bucks and really inflates the ego. Other times they’ll ask me about a specific situation or encounter in a game I’ve never played and then look at me with shock and disappointment when I tell them I don’t know.
As they get older, they are starting to realize that I’m not as godly as they thought I was, I don’t think they mind this realization, but is sure bothers me. ;)
